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January 01, 2009
Obama and a new era for the arts
"Obama and a new era for the arts."Man, is that some bullshit headline or what? And yet.. irresistibly seductive to imagine. Maybe what Obama will do is make us believe that we can make good things happen, and let us believe in ourselves to get them done. He can teach us how to fish instead of just serving up the sushi.*
Story on NPR this AM, commenting on how Obama is bringing a poet to his inauguration. Elizabeth Blair said this has only happened four times before in history? Did I hear that right? And the guy used to WRITE poetry, it was suggested. !!!
And the man had an actual arts advisory committee during his campaign? Again, unheard of. Can you imagine hearing about an appointment for a position called "Secretary of the Arts". On Meet the Press, Obama is quoted as saying that we NEED the arts during tough times. Of course, financial turmoil is the easiest excuse for anyone to sever arts funding, but maybe we'll be going by a different play book right now.
Obama has indicated that he wants to bring arts back into the White House. Imagine - classical music and all kinds of other music at the White House! As part of the public image.
There's also a clip of Laura Bush promoting reading. "Reading." What the fuck is "reading"? It's a safe cop-out, right? By not addressing particular authors or pieces, you don't leave yourself open to associations that could become political liabilities. So just hearald "reading." That's like saying "listening." We want our kids to listen more. If you listen in the household, your kids will see you listening, and they will want to listen, too. Listening will make you smarter. Studies have shown that listening increases your enjoyment of life by 10% of those who don't listen.
* I had sushi last month, after about 2-3 years of none. I'd been broke those 2-3 years. Had a job, couldda had sushi every day, but just got my job hours cut way back. So I'm broke again. It's like one of those country songs.
Originally from Fuck Classical Music, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on Jan 1, 2009 at 01:34 PM